CHAP. XVII.] THE FIFTH DAT. 273 



but I think not in the Thames, which I believe affords the 

 largest and fattest in this nation, especially below London- 

 bridge. 1 The roach is a leather-mouthed fish, and has a 

 kind of saw-like teeth in his throat. And lastly, let me tell 

 you, the roach makes the angler excellent sport, especially 

 the great roaches about London, where I think there 



1 I know not what roaches are caught below bridge, but, above, I am 

 sure they are very large ; for on the 15th of September, 1754, at Hampton, 

 I caught one that was fourteen inches and an eighth from eye to fork, and 

 in weight wanted but an ounce of two pounds. | Roaches of three pounds 

 have been caught in the Thames, and Pennant records one of the great 

 weight of five pounds, though not caught in the Thames. ED.] 



The season for fishing for roach in the Thames begins about the latter 

 end of August, and continues much longer than it is either pleasant or safe 

 to fish. It requires some skill, to hit the time of taking them exactly ; 

 for all the summer long they live on the weed, which they do not forsake 

 for the deeps till it becomes putrid, and that is sooner or later, according 

 as the season is wet or dry ; for you are to know, that much rain hastens 

 the rotting of the weed. I say it requires some skill to hit the time ; for 

 the fishermen who live in all the towns along the river, from Chiswick to 

 Staines, are, about this time, nightly upon the watch, as soon as the fish 

 come out, to sweep them away with a drag-net ; and our poor patient 

 angler is left, baiting the ground, and adjusting his tackle, to catch 

 those very fish which, perhaps, the night before had been carried to 

 Billingsgate. 



The Thames, as well above as below London-bridge, was formerly mucli 

 resorted to by the London anglers ; and, which is strange to think on, 

 considering the unpleasantness of the station, they were used to fish near 

 the starlings of the bridge. This will account for the many fishing-tackle 

 shops that were formerly in Crooked-lane, which leads to the bridge. In 

 the memory of a person, not long since living, a waterman that plied at 

 Essex-stairs, his name John Reeves, got a comfortable living by attending 

 anglers with his boat ; his method was to watch when the shoals of roach 

 came down from the country, and when he had found them, to go round to 

 his customers and give them notice. Sometimes the fish settled opposite 

 the Temple ; at others, at Blackfriars or Queenhithe ; but most frequently 

 about the Chalk hills, near London-bridge. His hire was two shillings a 

 tide. A certain number of persons who were accustomed thus to employ 

 him, raised a sum sufficient to buy him a waterman's coat and silver 

 badge, the impress whereof was, "Himself, with an angler, in his boat ;" 

 and he had annually a new coat to the time of his death, which might be 

 about the year 1730. [There is now no good fishing in the Thames nearer 

 than the Twickenham Meadows, just above Richmond- bridge, owing to the 

 filthy state of the river. ED.] 



Shepperton and Hampton ai*e the places chiefly resorted to by the 

 Londoners, who angle there in boats ; at each there is a large deep, to 

 which roach are attracted by constant baiting. That at Hampton is oppo- 



